I liked it much more than So Long..., but I read it twice in a row, and there are some stealth jokes that only make sense if you know what's going to happen later. It's more like a Dirk Gently book than H2G2, with fewer one-liners and more jokes that are almost puzzles.

I thought it was okay, but it had the misfortune of being read the same weekend I read Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life (the incredibly funny and wonderful first two Red Dwarf novels--sadly, reading the other two prove that Grant and Naylor are better together than apart), and it suffered in the compare.

Alan Rickman to provide the voice for Marvin the Paranoid Android!

I'm at a loss to think of anyone else who could do as well.

Stephen Moore, the original radio (and TV) Marvin, is still around and just as great as ever. He's the Ur-Marvin, the template. Rickman is certainly the next best choice, though.

The newest radio series (The Tertiary Phase) is excellent, and completely lives up to expectations. It's amazing how nobody sounds much older, even though 25 years have passed since the first shows.

Two new series (based on "So Long..." and "Mostly Harmless") are planned for mid-2005, I believe.

Edit: according to the official BBC site, they start May 3rd.

Go by yourself - it is the sign of a self-confident person that he or she can attend a movie by his/herself.

Okay, just to be clear, my self confidence is fine. I love going to movies by myself. I mean, I went to a foreign country by myself. So movies are not a source of problems. It's my lack of transportation to pretty theaters that is more of an issue. Because I am a theater snob, and a small, sticky little theater with poor popcorn kind of ruins the movie-going experience for me.

Going to a movie with Lee, however, is worth not going alone, though. Even if we did somehow get lost on our way inside, and ended up seeing the alternate non-funny version of Shaun of the Dead.

(And Lee, I saw Elf and quite enjoyed it. It's silly, and cute. And I would really like to own the soundtrack. So don't be too scared to watch it.)

Frosted Flakes.

I just watched Garden State again, and in case anyone's wondering it's still a really great movie. Yet somehow I think it was funnier in the theater. I'm not sure why.

I tried watching Hero and had to turn it off about an hour in. Pretty? Yes. Did I care about any of them? No. Oh look, more slo-mo twirling in the air. Ooh, neat. Not so neat the 62,523rd time.

I would like to see House of Flying Daggers, however. That one looks like it would be more interesting.

I saw Hotel Rwanda and A Very Long Engagement. I think the key to enjoying A Very Long Engagement is to NOT see it directly following Hotel Rwanda. In another mood, I might have liked it, but not today. After Rwanda's raw brutality, being bombarded with that much sly charming cuteness was just exactly the wrong thing to watch, especially coming from another war story.

But everyone should see Hotel Rwanda. Don Cheadle blew me away, and the story itself is gut-wrenching.

and the story itself is gut-wrenching.

not so eager to have gut wrenched...

I think the key to enjoying A Very Long Engagement is to NOT see it directly following Hotel Rwanda.

I think the key to enjoying pretty much ANYTHING would be to not have it directly following Hotel Rwanda. After that movie, you should just go sit in the park and feed the ducks, or stare at shoppers in the food court, or lie on the couch with your eyes closed. Nothing that actually requires you to think, because the thinking part of your brain will be busy for a while.

Um, I think one of the dealers in the Wire has a part in that one, too.(/my new show likes carrots) Have not seen it yet because I hardly see movies in the theaters anymore.

I succumbed to the allure of not caring very much what I watched today. Thus I ended up watching Nurse Betty and Sabrina (the one with Harrison Ford and Greg Kinnear) on USA.

I found Nurse Betty touching and I bawled. I love Morgan Freeman, and I think Chris Rock is a workmanlike actor (not bad/pretty good kinda thang). Renee Zellweger doesn't bother me the way she does some people, and I thought she was really quite lovely in this. Even with commercials and bleepings, I really enjoyed it. I could be coming down with something, of course, but it was much better than I had expected having watched making-of, interviews, and so on. Which just goes to show that studio marketing generally sucks the big green weanie.

I liked Sabrina, too, but I have to say it was mostly because I remember the original and didn't actually "watch" it, watch it. I more listened to it and glanced at it occasionally. Harrison Ford playing Linus kinda wigged me out - I'm not saying he acted badly, it's just that my mother likes him now, for crying out loud (and I used to have the biggest crush on him based on Han Solo and Indiana Jones), so watching him try to flirt with and kiss a pretty young thing wasn't something I felt up to. Creepy.

At least it wasn't John Malkovich, the number one reason why I preferred Le Liasons Dangereuses to Dangerous Liasons. Well, he and Glenn Close, because she creeps me out too. "You're wearing paniers, dude!" .....Just my little nod to Keanu...